


Fifth Stage

by jkateel



Series: Stages of Grief [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Season 2 spoilers, The Reichenbach Fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-29
Updated: 2012-02-29
Packaged: 2017-10-31 21:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/348640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jkateel/pseuds/jkateel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have been meeting up for ages now, long before Sherlock’s death, to drink, watch the match and share women and detective stories, though they've run out of the latter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifth Stage

**Author's Note:**

> Another drabble I wrote to get a feel for John's voice. (Second Stage is the first drabble.)

They have been meeting up for ages now, long before Sherlock’s death, to drink, watch the match and share detective and women stories. They’ve both ran out of stories, but the topic of career choices has replaced it.  
  
“Greg Lestrade, private detective,” John reads from Greg’s new business card and grins. “I like it. Has a feel of authority to it.”  
  
“It’s a step down from homicides and the lot, but it’ll pay the bills,” Greg agrees. “What about you? How was your first writing class?”  
  
John snorts. “I’m a terrible writer.”  
  
“What? Is that what they told you?”  
  
“More or less,” John grins again. “They thought Sherlock was a supernatural character. When I explained he was a real person, they criticised me on his unrealistic characterization.”  
  
Greg bursts into laughter, and John chuckles along. They fall silent, finishing off their first round and watching the match. It's comfortable, their bond, made stronger by Sherlock's death. They wouldn't have survived without each other, really. 

“Is this our lives now?” Greg asks after their third beer. “I’m a private detective; you’re a writer?”  
  
“Plus pub nights,” John adds and Greg chuckles.  
  
“Think he’d be happy for us?”  
  
John snorts. “God no. He hated my writing and thought you were a lousy detective.”  
  
“Yeah...” Greg smiles and then nods. “He’d call us idiots and go have a strop.”  
  
The imagery makes John chuckle (he’s right, Sherlock would have a strop). Greg smile grows wistful and he murmurs, “I think he would be happy for us, though.”  
  
 _He died for us,_ is left unsaid, and John smiles, remembering Moriarty’s words.  
  
 _“Your only three friends in the world will die. Unless...”_  
  
“To Sherlock Holmes,” John says, lifting his beer, and Greg matches his smile, mimicking the motion.  
  
“To Sherlock Holmes.”

**Author's Note:**

> There's a current theory going around that Sherlock recorded Moriarty's conversation, hence why John would know about the conversation between Moriarty and Sherlock.
> 
> Also, I wrote this paragraph: "The legal system is a mess after Sherlock’s death. Every case he has ever worked on is called into question; every case he didn’t work on is called into question by ambitious lawyers. The only ones pleased by this are the owners of the Till Briggs Cruise of Terror and the media, and the ridicule and demands for resignations mean that Scotland Yard loses several of its staff, Greg Lestrade included."
> 
> And it needs a home. Feel free to use it!


End file.
